What to do about stinking stupid flour bugs

[Tiggeroo]

I don't know if you know what I'm talking about. Those moths that sometimes come in flour/cereal type goods from the grocery store. I have also seen them in certain pet foods like bird food. They will nest in the food and then moths come out. It is gross. Like 5 months ago I came home from the grocery store and saw one in my bags. I found a box of cake mix with them in it and threw it out. Ever since then I have been fighting these things. I have these giant tall pantry closets. The top two shelves are those pots and pans you only use every once in awhile and the rest is groceries. So far what I have done is...
Take everything out of the closets spray them, wipe them and put everything back
Take everything out put anything that isn't canned in a zip lock bag or a glass jar
Put cereal and baking things on top of the fridge or in another cabinet.
Take everything out again and spray and wipe, then put everything back in
Double check to see if I missed a non-canned item and to see if anything is spilled in there.
Take everything out and spray and wipe.....................

There are not millions of these moths, just maybe 5-10 or them but they are driving me nuts. I thoroughly look thru everything before I cook it, in case they are in there.
I am sick of having these giant cabinets but keeping food on my fridge.
They don't go in any other cabinet and have never bothered food on the fridge right next to these cabinets.
I live in a quad type of home. I am wondering if my neighbor, an older man, maybe has them in his house and this is where they are coming from. His cabinets are right on the other side of the wall as mine. Maybe this is where they are mostly eating (although in a house with 3 teens there is no absence of crumbs someplace). I need to figure out something to do, or I will go absolutely nuts. Occasionally one of the kids forgets and puts a box of cake mix or oatmeal in this cabinet and it quickly is ruined.
Has anybody ever dealt with this succesfully? Help!!!!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

<font color=navy>I got them, too, and it took forever for me to get rid of them -- I had to fumigate the house for termites, and that took care of the moths.... but, I now keep my flour, oatmeal, etc., in the fridge now - I don't even store it in the pantry unless it's in ziplock bags.

Good luck.

 

[Margie J]

OMG, I know the problem well. When I first moved to my condo these things were crawling everywhere, even out into my living room! The people who had just moved out must have been pigs.

What I had to do was throw out everything that was infected. Any new item (cereal, flour, rice, etc.) is now packed away in either a sealed bag or a plastic/glass container. All the cabinets were cleaned with a disinfectant and then sprayed with bug spray (I waited to put any food items back after this). I put cedar chips around the cabinets.

In my kitchen there is a small opening between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. The larvae were crawling out of there. I placed moth crystals within the crack and then sealed it up with tape. That final move ended the problem. I haven't seen one larvae or moth in a couple years now.

 

[doxdogy]

Here is on tip I found on a website. Flour Weevils: Bay leaves keep bugs away and the flour will not take on the flavor. I do purchase bulk bay leaves at a local bulk store and place bay leaves in and around the canister that holds the flour, pasta or rice. I have read that people scatter the leaves in the back of the panty as well. Another website suggested vacuuming out the cabinets and then discarding the bag afterwards.

 

[amid chaos]

We moved into a house and the cabinets were infested with these critters....we were successful with the inexpensive 'Pantry Pest'. And we got them at the hardware store.

http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.c...046923427191868002f05b5+EN/products/KT009&2D3

 

[caitycaity]

ugh! yes we had these awhile ago in our apartment (came in a box of cereal).

i washed and vaccumed out all cabinets and threw out all grain/flour type stuff, even if i didn't think it wasinfected. then the newstuff went into ziplocks. the few bugs i couldn't get rid of ended up dying from starvation. i kept finding the dead stupid things in our pantry though, for like a month after i killed them all.

good luck.

 

[Talking Hands]

I haven't had any since I become a Tupperware consultant and put everything in Tupperware containers.

 

[bobcat]

These are horrible to get rid of. What I did was a combination of what has already been said. I threw out all of my flours and grains, vacumed the pantry and surrounding areas, washed the cabinets out with a bleach spray and then put bay leaves in the cabinets. It worked.

 

[Regina]

You poor thing! I would be freaking out. I hope that you get rid of them. YUK!

One tip that has worked for me is to freeze the bag of flour for a couple of days before putting it in the cupboard. I've done this for a long time and I've never had a bug problem.

I keep all other grains in plastic containers.